


Distortion

by ContraryNonsense



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama, LITERALLY, M/M, Mild Cursing, Romance, Science Fiction, body switching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-03-28 16:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13908048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ContraryNonsense/pseuds/ContraryNonsense
Summary: Jeremy wakes up in a world vastly different from his own. Everything seems backward, school has never seemed crueler, and worst of all, his player 2 has no idea who he is. As he tries to figure out how to get home, a very different Jeremy is struggling to figure out this strange world and how to trust both himself and others.





	1. A Normal Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Had this idea bouncing around for a while, and I am struggling to find inspiration in one of my other works, so I thought I would take a break and write this one out. I have no idea how long this series will run, but I have a decent idea of how it will play out. This chapter is harmless, but warnings that future chapters will contain things like suicidal thoughts and implied attempts at such. I will gives warnings before each chapter as needed. Also, formatting on this chapter is a bit cramped, for stylistic purposes. It will be more straight forward in future chapters.
> 
> I own nothing, not sure what else you would expect...it's fanfiction.

Jeremy opened his eyes with a groan. Ugh, mornings. At least it was almost Friday. He forced himself out of bed and stretched. Michael would be here soon to pick him up, he needed to get ready. He didn’t want to keep his boyfriend waiting.

* * *

_Jeremy opened his eyes with a groan, then promptly shut them again, rolling over and curling into his covers. Maybe if he played sick he could avoid going to school. Not like anything good was waiting for him there. This dream was ruined when an angry voice called up the stairs._

_“Jeremy! Get your ass down here! I don’t want another call from the school asking where you are!”_

_Jeremy debated whether it would be worth it to get on his dad’s bad side, and decided to just get the day over with. At least it was almost Friday._

* * *

Jeremy loped down the stairs to find his dad in the kitchen, eating some scrambled eggs.

“Morning Dad!”

“Morning son! I left some in the pan for you.”

“Thanks, shouldn’t you leave for work soon?”

“Shoot, you’re right. Gotta go!” Mr. Heere shoveled one last bite of food into his mouth as he stood up. He grabbed his things and raced out the door, calling behind him, “Love you Jeremey! Have a good day at school!”

“Bye dad! Love you too!” Jeremy shouted as the door slammed. He lightly chuckled and served himself some eggs.

* * *

_Jeremy crept down the stairs, stumbling the last step. The television was on, as always. He looked over to see his dad once again lounging and staring at the colorful screen. Same as every day. Jeremy let out a sigh and went to the kitchen._

_A stack of dishes sat in the sink, and the garbage was giving off a distinct odor. He would have to do cleaning this weekend. Continuing in, he opened up the fridge and frowned at the space inside. What happened to the eggs he bought last weekend? They shouldn’t be out yet. Looking around, Jeremy finally finds the carton in the trash. He sighs. His dad had eaten them all apparently._

_Deciding he didn’t want to put the effort in for anything else, he just grabs a granola bar from the cabinet and sits down to eat it. He had a few minutes until he had to leave to be at the bus stop._

* * *

A honk sounded from outside as Jeremy was putting his plate into the sink. No time to wash it then. He’d do it when he got home. Grabbing his bag with the word ‘BOYF’ proudly displayed, Jeremy hurried out the door, locking it behind him. 

Turning, he was met with the sight of Michael, his best friend turned boyfriend. Grinning, Jeremy raced over to the passenger side and ducked in, leaning over to give Michael a quick kiss in greeting. 

“Good morning, someone’s in a good mood today,” Michael commented, turning the key in the ignition. 

“It’s Thursday man! That means after tomorrow it’s the weekend!” Jeremy leaned in. “Then I can hang out with you with no interruptions.” Michael blushed, but snorted.

“You say that, but who is the one who can never turn down an invitation from a certain Christine Canigula?”

“She has puppy dog eyes man! Even you can’t resist them.”

“I can too!”

“Then explain to me how you agreed to be a one man tech crew for the next play?”

“…No comment.” 

Jeremy laughed as Michael pulled out and headed for school.

* * *

_Jeremy climbed onto the bus and crept towards his usual seat, head down. It was lame to be the only upperclassman on the bus, but it was this or walk, and he would end up a smelly, sweaty mess if he did that. He didn’t need to give anyone extra ammo._

_He sat and looked out the window. As the scenery of cookie cutter houses and trees flashed by, Jeremy’s mind wandered. Unbidden, he thought about a shoebox, with a single silver pill inside. He frowned and curled more into himself. That had been one of the crueler tricks by his tormentors. They had made him believe that a fucking microcomputer existed and would magically fix all his problems. Well, here he was, out all of his bar mitzvah money and no better off than he was before. Still just a friendless loser.  
As the bus finally pulled up to the front of Middle Borough High School, Jeremy couldn’t help but wonder why he even tried anymore._

* * *

Jeremy’s day passed the same as usual. He and Michael barely made it to class after sitting and making out in his car too long. Then he sat through his boring lessons, either spending his time watching the clock or passing notes with Rich, who shared a lot of his classes.

Then lunch hit and he joined the rest of the squad for a good ol’ round of fighting for the last shortcake piece the cafeteria sold (Chloe won. She gave it to Brooke). This was followed by another few periods of classes, infinitely improved by the addition of Michael.

Finally, it was time for Play Rehearsal™. This time they were staying far clear of Shakespeare, and had chosen to do The Secret Garden, which, according to Christine, was underappreciated. Jeremy found himself in the role of Colins, the sickly young master of the house who was confined to a wheelchair, and had a rather sour disposition. He wasn’t sure if he should be offended or not.

* * *

_Jeremy’s day passed the same as usual. He barely made it to class after hiding in the bathroom for most of the passing period. Then he sat through his boring lessons, either spending his time watching the clock or doodling a bit too hard on his arms._

_Then lunch hit and he joined the mass throngs of people fighting for a good spot in the lunch line. He quietly bought a sandwich and escaped to the library, where he spent every lunch by himself. Technically he wasn’t supposed to eat in there, but the librarian had taken pity on him and let him eat in the staff room in the back. Then he returned to the continued grind of classes just as boring as his morning ones._

_Finally the last bell rung and Jeremy snuck out of school, passing a signup sheet for the school play. They were doing The Secret Garden. That was a musical? He only knew the book. He paused as he walked by, but eventually kept walking. He couldn’t be seen looking at it too hard, or he would be made fun of for something else. Instead, he turned to head toward his favorite place in the world: the local library._

* * *

As it turned out Colin was a pretty cool character. Jeremy does kind of wish he could be Dickon, but honestly the role did fit Rich much better. Even if Rich tended to make some rather crude jokes about the name. 

“How was the read through?” Michael asked after greeting Jeremy with a peck on the lips. 

“Pretty good. Though my role is bigger than I thought it would be, so I’m kinda nervous.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be great.”

“Thanks,” Jeremy responded with a smile. “How was… uh, tech meeting?” Michael snorted in reply.

“Oh, great. Michael had some excellent ideas on the lighting, and Michael also had some solid input for what we should do for the set. And did I mention that Michael apparently knows how to clone himself? It will be super helpful for running backstage and the booth _at the same time_.”

“Jesus, you really need to get some help. Why don’t you take a page out of Christine’s book and coerce some people into helping? Jake isn’t in the show because his legs are still technically broken, he could run lights or something,” Jeremy suggested. Michael looked at him in awe.

“You beautiful genius.” Jeremy received a sloppy kiss on the nose. “I am totally going to ask him later. But before that, wanna go back to my place for some good ol’ Apocalypse of the Damned?”

“Race you to the car!” Jeremy grinned. Michael laughed and they took off running.

* * *

_Jeremy sat reading in the calm library. It was one of the only places he could feel at ease. He was reading The Secret Garden, having been reminded of it by the play signup sheet. He really did like the character of Colin. He felt like he could relate. He sighed. If only he could have someone like Mary or Dickon to be there for him, to force him out of his shell and make him a stronger person._

_He glanced up at the clock. Was it that late already? He needed to get home and make dinner before his dad got angry again. He packed up his things and headed for the counter, a small stack of books in hand, including The Secret Garden._

_“Only three today?” Ms. Loralee, the librarian, joked as she checked his books out._

_“I have a project I need to work on, so I won’t be able to do as much reading.”_

_“Well, if you need the space to work you are always welcome here, Mr. Heere,” she giggled. Jeremy groaned as he grabbed his books back._

_“Loralee..!” The middle aged woman’s giggles turned into laughter._

_“Have a lovely evening Jeremy!” She called as Jeremy left. He waved in response. Her puns were terrible, but he always did enjoy them._

* * *

“Ah crap, I gotta get going. I promised dad that I would have dinner with him today,” Jeremy exclaimed as he glanced at the clock on Michael’s basement wall.

“Awww, however will I live without thou radiant presence to brighten my forlorn cave of weed and the spirits of long dead memes?” Michael dramatically calls from his beanbag. Jeremy shoves him with his foot. Chuckling, Michael picks himself off the floor and heads over to where Jeremy is finishing pulling on his shoes.

Michael pulls him in for a slow kiss before pulling back and smiling softly. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, yeah?”

“Yup, and then be prepared for an entire weekend of just the two of us. I already told dad I was spending the night.”

“I’m counting on it,” Michael murmured as he leaned back in for another kiss.

* * *

_Jeremy walked out of the store carrying all the groceries he would need for dinner that night. The store was a bit out of the way, and sold a rather strange collection of foods, but they had good prices. Plus, since no one seemed to know about it, he never ran into people he knew, or who knew him. It was probably his second favorite place after the library._

_“Oi kid!” A voice behind him called. Jeremy stopped and looked back. One of the store workers was waving from behind him. Jeremy waited as he jogged over. He handed Jeremy what appeared to be a soda. “On the house, you look like you could use a bit of a pick me up.”_

_Jeremy looked at the label. Mountain Dew… Distortion? He had never heard of that flavor. He looked up questioningly._

_“Oh, it’s a flavor that got discontinued. You can still find it sometimes though. We had some extra stock, so don’t worry about it.”_

_“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Jeremy said as he slipped it into one of his bags._

_“No problem little dude. Hope whatever’s got you down gets better.”_

_“I doubt it, but thanks.”_

_“You never know. Maybe you just need to look at things from a new perspective. Later kid!” The worker waved and turned back to the store. Jeremy watched with his eyebrows raised as the man jogged back away. He shook his head. Strange guy. Sweet, but strange._

* * *

Jeremy gave his overnight bag one last look over, confirming that he had everything that he could possibly need for his weekend at Michael’s. Not that he couldn’t easily come back for something he forgot, but it was the principle of the thing. He heard a knock at his door. 

“Jeremy, time for bed bud. It’s not the weekend yet, you got one more day of school,” Jeremy’s dad said, poking his head in. 

“Alright dad, got it. Was just checking I had everything. I’ll go to bed in a sec.”

“Okay Kiddo, I’ll trust you on that. Good night!”

“Night Dad!” Jeremy responded. As the door shut Jeremy glanced one last time at his bag. Staring at it anymore wasn’t going to do anything, so he finally decided to call it a night. He stretched and plopped onto his bed, pulling the covers up around him. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come. 

As he fell asleep, his head tingled.

* * *

_Jeremy gave his project one last look over, confirming he had met all the requirements for the essay and that he had addressed every possible angle. Not that his grade was hurting or anything, but it was the principle of the thing. He drained the bottle of Mountain Dew he had been given. It had a slightly strange taste, and the caffeine gave his head a weird feeling, but it had kept him awake long enough to finish his project. He would have to thank that worker later._

_He stretched then tossed the bottle into his trash, before carefully storing his project into his bag. He got ready for bed and all but collapsed into his covers. Today hadn’t been a totally heinous day; he could only hope tomorrow was the same. He wasn’t looking forward to it._

_As he fell asleep, his head tingled._

* * *

.  
.  
.

JeR _emy_ cOnn _ecte_ D.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Mountain Dew Distortion is an actual discontinued flavor. I looked it up.
> 
> 2\. If you couldn't tell, I love the Secret Garden. The book and musical are both amazing, and more people need to be aware of this fact.


	2. Freaky Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy isn't in the New Jersey he knows anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup! So I won't give a promised update schedule, as I write when I have time. I'll do my best to be at least once a week. It might be more, it might be less. Depends on life. But it does look like I'll have the next chapter up later this week, I'm just about done with the rough draft. 
> 
> That being said, some small warnings for this chapter:  
> -Allusion to cutting  
> -Some depressing thoughts  
> -Mild cursing. Actually I'm adding that as a tag, I don't want to have to repeat that all the time.
> 
> I don't have any graphic scenes planned for this story, so do with that what you will. 
> 
> Also, I live in Japan, so if I post or respond at a strange hour it's _not_ because I wrote this instead of sleeping. Probably.

-Alternate Universe-

Jeremy opened his eyes slowly. God his head hurt. His whole body for that matter. It felt like he had been hit by a truck. Or what he assumed that felt like. Groaning, he sat up as tenderly as possible. After a few minutes of sitting there with his head in his hands, Jeremy realized something was off. His dad should have called him for breakfast by now; he had been trying really hard to be a dad again after the Squip fiasco. 

Looking around, he realized that wasn’t the only thing that was off. His room felt bizarrely empty. His normal furniture was there and all, but it was creepily clean. Not a single sock was laying on the floor. And all his pictures and random posters he had gotten from Michael had vanished. Not even pin holes remained to show that they ever even existed. 

Thoroughly creeped out, Jeremy slipped out of bed and made his way to his dresser, where he was pleased to see that at least his clothes were still there. After pulling on the comforting striped shirt and blue cardigan that was his favorite and grabbing his phone, Jeremy made his way downstairs, increasingly concerned about how off everything felt. Downstairs, he heard the television playing softly, and as he drew closer he found his father slumped on the couch. In his underwear. Jeremy stopped short. His father looked as messed up as he was when his mother first left. It was as if he had reverted back completely. Jeremy cleared his throat.

“Uh, morning dad. You alright?” He asked tentatively. His father craned his head to look at Jeremy, and seemed mildly surprised. 

“What, you actually bothered to leave your room today? Color me surprised. Maybe I should play the lottery.” He snorted derisively. Jeremy almost recoiled in shock. What the hell? His father had never been _this_ bad. 

“Um, shouldn’t you g-get ready for work? Like maybe put on some p-pants?” He stammered. Mr. Heere’s face twisted in anger.

“Oh sure you brat, make fun of your father for being a bum, just like everyone else! Well I won’t take it from you, get out of my face! Go on, get! You don’t want to miss the bus, or else you might end up like me!” He sneered. 

Eager to leave and try to wrap his mind around what was happening Jeremy happily complied and all but ran out of the room, snagging his backpack on his way out. 

His mind was reeling. What was that? What the absolute HELL was that? He blindly made his way to the bus stop with great intent, not even paying attention to where he was going. That wasn’t his father. No matter how much it looked and sounded like him, his father would _never_ have acted like that. What was going on? 

Blinking, Jeremy realized he had auto-piloted to the bus stop, which was impressive seeing as he hadn’t taken the bus since- he froze. Since Michael had been able to take passengers. Michael- where was Michael? Michael hadn’t texted him this morning, and hadn’t woken up half the neighborhood with his horn to come and pick him up. Whipping his phone from his pocket, Jeremy unlocked it and checked his messages. 

He had none. And not just no new messages, He had no messages period. There was not a single trace of his long chat threads with Michael and the rest of the squad; there wasn’t even a message from his father. Jeremy gaped blankly at the screen. Something massive had happened, and he was seriously scared now. 

Unsure of what else to do, Jeremy boarded the bus when it came and awkwardly sat by himself, trying to not draw attention. He scoured his entire phone. Not a single contact existed outside of a couple family members, and for some reason a number for the local library. The only pictures in his gallery were of scenery and cats, clearly taken by him, except he had no recollection of taking them. 

The bus pulled to a stop and Jeremy got off, wearily making his way toward his locker. With any luck he could find Michael and see what he had to say on it. Maybe this was all some elaborate prank made to freak him out. If so, it was working spectacularly. He made it to his locker and was relieved to find his code worked. Any sense of familiarity was welcome at this point. 

Gathering his books, he stared with worry at the emptiness of his locker. Once again, all his junk and personalization, along with random things left by Michael, were gone. He felt like it wasn’t even his locker. He was zipping up his bag when a hand shoved his door shut sharply. 

“You’re in my way, freak!” a familiar voice growled. Looking over, Jeremy found himself looking up at Jake Dillinger, who looked strange without his normal goofy smile. Jeremy opened his mouth to respond, stunned at the aggression from his friend, when Jake breezed past him without a second glance, brightening at the sight of someone. “Yo, Mell! How’s it hanging man?” 

Jeremy started. Mell? He whipped around and was greeted with the sight of none other than Michael Mell, his best friend of almost thirteen years at this point. At least he looked like Michael. But just like everything else this morning he seemed… wrong. He was wearing his normal red hoody, but it had none of his normal geeky patches, instead looking rough and only sporting a couple band patches. He wasn’t wearing his heely’s either, instead a dark pair of normal tennis shoes showed from beneath a ripped pair of jeans. 

But those weren’t the main differences. No, those were only the surface layer. Michael’s very aura was different. He had always been a bit taller than Jeremy, but he had always been slouched and relaxed, exuding a sense of warmth and softness. This Michael was different. Everything about him seemed harsh. He stood tall and aggressively, his face resting in an apathetic glare. But his face broke into a grin when he spotted Jake, and Jeremy could see the same person he had fallen for without even trying. His relief at seeing it was so strong that it caused him to cry out, “Michael!”

The two males, who had been in the middle of a high-five, started and looked over, eyes wide. Michael’s face quickly dropped into a look of wary confusion, and he seemed to almost glare. 

“Do you mean me?” He drawled. Jeremy gulped, but plowed forward. It’s Michael, nothing to be afraid of. 

“It’s me! Jeremy! Dude, what’s with you?” Micahel stared blankly at him, and Jeremy faltered. “You-you know me, right?” 

“…No. should I?” 

Jeremy’s heart stopped. No. Nonono, this couldn’t be happening. Michael was always the one thing he could count on, even when he had betrayed himself and everyone he loved. Jeremy didn’t know what to do if he didn’t have Michael. His horror must have been displayed on his face, because Michael’s twisted into one of mild concern, and he opened his mouth to seemingly say something before Jake interrupted.

“Wait, I know you! You’re the creepy kid who sits alone all the time!” He turned to Michael. “Dude, this kid literally had a freak-out at my last party! I don’t even know how he got in, I didn’t invite him.” Michael frowned and side glanced Jeremy. Jeremy, for his part, was confused.

“I did what now? What party?”

“Dude, don’t lie! We all saw you!” Jake exclaimed, and Michael’s face seemed to harden.

“I really have no idea what you are talking about! What party?” Jeremy asked desperately. 

“The one last Saturday!”

“I didn’t go to a party last Saturday, I was with Michael celebrating his mom’s birthday!” Jeremy shot back, and quickly realized his mistake. Michael’s face went to pure shock before going to pure rage. He took a menacing step forward.

“How did you know it was my Mother’s birthday that day? I certainly didn’t have you over, nor would I have! I don’t even know you!”

“Because I celebrate with you every year! We’ve been best friends for years!” Jeremy gasped out. He was already past the point of no return, might as well go all the way. 

“Like hell we have!”

“We have! I can prove it!” Jeremy boldly took a step forward. “Your mother’s name is Tala, and your father’s name is Carlos. You have an extreme extended family on your mom’s side, who you go visit in the Philippines every summer; your dad is somewhat estranged from his family so you don’t see much of them. You have an older brother named David who is out of college. Your favorite color is actually green, though most of your closet is red. You love spicy food, and don’t really care for sweets, not counting your obsession with slushies. Your favorite game is Apocalypse of the Damned, but you are also an avid World of Warcraft and League of Legends player. You used to have a dog named Flippy, but he died when we were 9 and you swore to never have another dog. You illegally got a Pac-Man tattoo sophomore year on your left forearm from a shady dude named Enrique. Your mom flayed you and grounded you for about four months because of it.” 

By now Michael was staring at with his mouth hanging open. The entire hallway had stopped to watch as well.

“How…” he managed to force out.

“How do I know that? Because I was there! And got a tattoo to match.” Jeremy shoved his sleeve on his right arm up and showed the colorful ink that was on display there. Except…it wasn’t there. It its place were several thin lines, ranging from a pale white to a more fresh pink. In his horrified confusion Jeremy barely registered a tan fist being reeled back before he felt extreme pain and everything went black.  
  


* * *

-Original Universe-

  
Jeremy stared at the room around him in horror, knees to chest and breathing labored. Everything was wrong. There was clothes everywhere, all piled on the floor. Most of it looked like his, but there was someone else’s stuff mixed in. And there was stuff covering his walls and dresser. Pictures of people he didn’t know and posters of things he had never heard of. Wait, no, he recognized some of the people, they went to his school. But why were they in pictures on his wall? He had never been spared a glance by them, much less a conversation. 

Oh God, was this a new way of messing with him? Sneaking into his room at night to trash his room and mock him with things he couldn’t even dare to dream of? He thought blowing $600 dollars had been bad, what else were they going to do to him? His dad hadn’t even noticed this happening, so clearly he cared so little that he could be murdered in his sleep and his father wouldn’t notice.

He was beginning to drive himself into a full-blown panic attack when someone knocked on the door. Jeremy jerked with surprise, eyes fixating on the knob that was being turned and pushed open. And to his further shock, his father walked in cheerfully. Wearing pants. What?

“Hey kiddo, it’s time to get up. Your ride will-” His dad stopped short, seeming to take in the state of his son. He quickly moved forward and sat on the bed, but still gave Jeremy his space. “Hey there, it’s alright, can you hear me? Nod your head if so.” 

Jeremy stared, then gave a tentative nod. Mr. Heere smiled gently.

“Alright, good. Now I need you to follow me. Breathe in deeply.” He demonstrated. “Now breathe out, hold it as long as you can.” Jeremy nervously copied. “Good, now keep going.” 

They repeated the exercise until Jeremy’s breathing had evened out and some of the tension had left. 

“Feeling better? Do you want to talk about it?” His dad pried gently. 

“…Someone trashed my room!” Jeremy blurted after a second. His dad’s face became confused.

“What?”

“My clothes are everywhere and there are weird pictures! And you’re wearing pants! You haven’t done that in almost a year!”

“Jeremy, son, I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about. I got over the pants-less phase over four months ago. And your room looks exactly like it did last night when I told you to get to bed.”

“W-what? No, but- no! Everything is all wrong!” Jeremy sputtered out. Mr. Heere opened his mouth to reply when a door shutting was heard and someone started walking up the stairs. 

“Oh, that’s probably Michael, he’ll be able to help.” 

Michael? Who was Michael? And why the hell was his dad acting like it was normal for this random guy to come barging into their house? Just as he thought this, the last person he would have expected came walking through the door, smiling widely and seeming far more colorful than Jeremy had ever seen him. Michael flipping _Mell_ had just burst into his room. The toughest, scariest kid in the entire school. And Jeremy screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time, some Michael POV! Which one? you'll have to wait and see. ;)
> 
> Also if you don't get the title search it up. I thought it was apropos.


	3. Confusion Reigns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael is confused... Jeremy is confused... everyone is just really confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chap probably focuses a little heavily on canon Jeremy. More of our scared chihuahua AU Jeremy next time. Also, next chapter is taking a little longer so expect it more next week sometime. Thanks for all the comments last chapter, I do my best to answer all of them! Some of them were quite funny. ^.^
> 
> Warnings for this chapter:  
> -Brief allusion to self-harm tendencies
> 
> Thank you and enjoy!

-Original Universe-

Michael Mell was currently every flavor of confused and worried. He had simply come to pick up Jeremy like he did every morning, and decided to check on him when he wasn’t responding to his texts. Next thing he knew Jeremy was screaming bloody murder and looking at him like he was the grim reaper. Not really the reaction he expected from his boyfriend.

“Jere-bear, what’s wrong? You alright?” Michael tried, moving closer. Jeremy pressed back further against the wall, saying nothing. Michael froze, then backed up a bit. Then he tensed.

“…Is it back? Oh God it is, isn’t it? Hold on I’ve got some red in my bag.” He started digging frantically through his bag before Jeremy’s soft voice stopped him.

“Who are you?” 

Michael froze, his blood turning to ice. He slowly looked up with wide eyes at Jeremy and forced out a laugh.

“It…it’s me, Michael. You know, best friend of thirteen years?” He left the boyfriend part off, Jeremy seemed a bit fragile. Baby steps.

“You’re not Michael. And Michael certainly has never been my friend. No one is.” 

“What do you mean? You have lots of friends. Me, Christine, Chloe, Jake, Rich… the whole squad,” Michael exclaimed. Jeremy flinched in surprise.

“Wha-what are you talking about? None of those people are my friends. They ignore me at best, torment me at worst. Oh God, that’s what this is, isn’t it? You’ve all come up with a new way of tormenting me. Was it you who broke in and put all this stuff in my room?”

“Jeremy, no, why on earth do you think that? This is all stuff I’ve given you over the years!” He gasped out. Michael was now well beyond worried and into full blown panic. What was wrong with Jeremy? He was acting like a completely different person! 

At this point Jeremy had started shaking again, and for the second time in his life Michael had no idea how to help his friend.  
  


* * *

  
Jeremy was feeling very, very off-kilter. Michael Mell, of all the people in the world, was in his room insisting that they were best friends, and looking like he actually _meant_ it. What the actual hell? 

Combined with his bizarrely competent father and the sudden inclusion of mass quantities of stuff in his room, Jeremy could feel another panic attack approaching. Or maybe it was just a level up of the one he was already having? He almost wanted to giggle in a hysterical way at that. It’s like the second form of a boss monster! He absently went to scratch at the marks on his arms. If this continued any further he might reopen a few of them on accident, but honestly he could do with something that felt real.

Except…nothing was there. Jeremy froze and his eyes darted to his exposed forearm. Ah. He stood corrected. There _was_ something there. A tattoo. 

…

A FUCKING TATTOO.

Once more, Jeremy found a scream being ripped from his throat.

“What’s wrong?! Does something hurt?!” Michael immediately panicked, moving a few steps forward before seemingly remembering that Jeremy _was not feeling touchy-feely thank you_. 

“What the hell is this?!” Jeremy screamed, flailing his right arm and roughly pointing at it with his left. 

“Umm… your arm?”

“No shit! What’s on it?!”

“…Your tattoo?”

“Why do I have a tattoo??”

“Because we got them at the same time? Here, see?” Michael rolled up his left sleeve and showed Jeremy the matching ink on his caramel skin. Jeremy stared at it in bewildered horror before it all became too much and the world turned mercifully black.  
  


* * *

-Alternate Universe-

  
Michael Mell was currently every flavor of confused and angry. Right after that kid, Jeremy, had spouted bizarrely high amounts of his private information out in the middle of the hallway, he had been dragged off for punching the guy’s lights out. So, here he was, quietly simmering in the principal’s office, receiving a lecture on the appropriate ways to solve conflict and how he needed to pull himself together or he wouldn’t go to college, blah, blah, so on so forth. 

_It’s not my fault he decided to run his mouth, fucking stalker probably. He deserved the punch in the face_ , Michael thought to himself, tuning out the principal and making vague noises of confirmation to show he was still “listening”. But no matter how much he felt the punch was deserved… argued that the kid was some weird delusional stalker… he couldn’t shake off the little logical part of his brain that told him there was no amount of stalking that could have given him some of that information. And that terrified him. 

“…-ood, so it’s settled then. I leave Mr. Heere in your care,” the principal finished. 

“Ye-” Michael started before freezing and looking up sharply. “Wait what?”

“Instead of giving you detention, as that has clearly done nothing to curb your attitude, I’m putting you in charge of Mr. Heere, the young man you decided to introduce to your fist. You are to accompany him and offer him support for the next two weeks.”

“I have to what?!”

“I explained this all before, and you were so _graciously_ accepting of it then,” the principal deadpanned. His glasses flashed as he looked over them at Michael. “Maybe next time, you should pay a little more respect to your fellow students and to _the person in charge of discipline_ ". Michael gaped at him like a fish. The principal looked back down at the papers on his desk and continued to write. “You are excused, Mr. Mell. I will be making checks that you are fulfilling your responsibilities.” 

“…Yes sir,” Michael sullenly replied. He got up and as he grabbed for the door handle, the principal spoke up once more behind him. 

“Oh, and I so appreciate you agreeing with me on the struggles of child-rearing.”

Michael flushed red and slammed the door behind him.  
  


* * *

  
Jeremy woke up with a groan. His face hadn’t hurt this much since that time he face-planted onto the parking lot outside of Denny’s. Asphalt was a bitch. He slowly sat up and tenderly touched what he was sure was an impressive bruise on the side of the head. There was a sudden shuffle beside him, and he quickly looked to the side. 

After the brief dizzy spell his sudden movements caused Jeremy managed to focus enough to register that there was someone sitting in a chair next to his bed, quietly sleeping. And not just anyone, but _Michael_. 

Unbidden, hope rose in Jeremy’s chest. Maybe it had all been a dream caused by smacking his head. Maybe he hadn’t been knocked out by his boyfriend, but had in fact bashed his head on something else. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t think of what, head injuries could result in loss of memory right? This might be _his_ Michael, staying by his side and loving him just like the last time Jeremy woke up in a medical bed. 

Then Michael woke up, and those hopes were crushed.

He blinked groggily, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses, before finally looking over and focusing on Jeremy. Immediately his face scrunched into a scowl, and Jeremy felt his heart shatter for the second time that day.

“Look who finally decided to wake up. Took you fucking long enough,” Michael sneered. Jeremy bristled.

“Well no one said you had to sit and wait for me,” he snapped back. Michael’s scowl turned from annoyance to anger.

“Actually, they did. The principal is forcing me to stay with you at school and “support you” as punishment for punching you,” he said, punctuating his statement with air quotations. One could practically hear the eye-roll. Jeremy stared at him blankly.

“…What?”

“What, are you deaf on top of being a creep? I just explained it.”

“I’m not a creep! And I heard you, I just don’t get why she would do that.”

“Because he’s a vindictive… wait, she?”

“Uh, yeah, the principal, Mrs. Valenti? Did you just say he?”

“Because it’s _Mr._ Valenti. Glasses? Complains about his kids? Kind of an ass?”

“No that’s not right… well besides the thing about her kids, but the principal is definitely female.”

“…So you’re crazy. Brilliant, I’m stuck with an insane kid for 2 weeks. Fucking perfect.” 

“I’m not crazy!”

“Well you must be if you think the principal is a woman!”

“Well she was last I checked! Maybe you’re the one who’s crazy!”

“Well I’m not the one who thinks they’re best friends with someone they’ve never talked to!”

Jeremy felt like someone punched him in the gut. That’s right, he had almost forgotten. Michael had no memories of them being best friends. Of being… no, let’s not go there for now, It already hurts too much.

When he didn’t respond, Michael looked over and whatever he saw on Jeremy’s face made some of his anger disappear. 

“Oi, are you-” he started, but was interrupted by the door opening. In walked the school nurse, a bounce in her step. She brightened at the sight of them talking. 

“Oh good, you’re awake! I was going to have to call the hospital if you didn’t wake up soon.”

“Um…” Jeremy started, flustered by her sudden entrance and bubbliness. She seemingly didn’t hear him and continued to chatter on. 

“Surprisingly you don’t actually have a concussion, which I thought for sure you did when you were brought in, but its looks like you actually fainted from anemia and the sudden shock to your system, rather than head trauma. So that’s good! Well, the part about the head trauma, not the anemia. You need to eat healthier young man! And get some sleep. I would recommend taking a good look at your lifestyle.”

“Oh, uh-”

“Also, I tried to call your family, but the only person who picked up was a very grumpy man who said you could ‘deal with it yourself’. He was quite rude if I’m honest. He was probably having a bad day, poor thing. Unfortunately because of school regulations and my own honor as a nurse, I can’t simply let you go ‘deal with it yourself’. I don’t suppose you have someone who could come pick you up? Oh, or how about your friend here?” She turned to Michael. “Won’t you be a dear and take him home? I’ll write you a pass from classes.”

“Wait, who says we’re friends?” Michael sputtered, thrown by the rapid-fire talking. The nurse let out a cheery laugh.

“Oh, you teenage boys, never being honest with your feelings! Of course you’re friends, you sat and waited for him to wake up for over an hour! But if you want to keep being macho-men, I won’t say anything,” she winked.

Michael continued to sit there floundering, and Jeremy hated that he still found it adorable. 

“Here, you go, here’s your pass! Now chop-chop! Off with you two! And Jeremy if you feel anything is wrong, make sure to visit the hospital!” she chirped to Jeremy as she handed Michael a piece of paper and started to cheerily usher them out of the room. They stood in stunned silence for a moment as the door shut behind them, before Michael turned and started walking away. 

“Hey where are you going?” Jeremy called out.

“Leaving. I have no reason to stick around here.”

“You’re supposed to take me home!”

“Says who?”

“The nurse?!”

“So?”

“So if you don’t I will tell the principal you aren’t following your punishment,” Jeremy desperately tried. While home didn’t sound pleasant, at least there he could maybe think for a little. Plus he was still feeling a bit dizzy. 

“Are you fucking blackmailing me?”

“No, I’m threatening. There’s a difference.”

“You little fucker-!”

“What, you gonna come give me an actual concussion?” Jeremy snapped. At this point Michael looked like he was absolutely fuming. But just as Jeremy started to worry he would actually get punched again, Michael turned and started walking away once more. 

“I’m not gonna wait for you!” he called over his shoulder. Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief and started after him, staying a few feet behind. 

_Something is definitely wrong, but I don’t think a hospital can help_ , he bitterly thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Principal Valenti is based on an actual principal I knew. Interesting person. Also fun fact concussions don't actually knock you out very long. If it's longer than a minute or two then it is like serious head trauma territory. Next time, the squad!


	4. Lists and Theories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy organizes his thoughts, and make some startling realizations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh... hi? Sorry this took way longer than anticipated, but life decided to rear its big ol' head. I'll try to be better in the future. ^.^' 
> 
> BUT!!! I have returned! AND as a small present to make it up to you I recently made some fanart of my moody AU Michael.  
> You can check it out [here](https://kierranodel.tumblr.com/post/172687420745/a-piece-i-made-of-a-bmc-au-ive-been-working-on).
> 
> Warnings for this chapter:  
> -Mentions of cutting scars  
> -deprecating mentality
> 
> Enjoy!

-Original Universe-

The world slowly faded in for Jeremy. First came a vague sense of warmth and fabric. Then came the general awareness of sounds and light on his face. Eventually the sounds turned into a voice and he could make out what they were saying. 

“No, Christine, listen, I really don’t think you guys should come over. He had a conniption over his dad wearing pants, suddenly surrounding him with a load of people will just overwhelm him… I highly doubt that… No Christine, I don’t believe Rich has the ability to be anything less than 100%. He’s either running at full throttle or asleep. There is no in between… Do you honestly think any of us could keep him from coming? …Jake would cave like a pansy in two seconds flat... _NO_ Christine, tranquilizers are not a-”

Jeremy tuned out at this point as he finally placed the voice. He didn’t exactly hear it often, so it took a while. And once he did the world once more turned muffled and he fell into his own thoughts. Normally, that was a bad place for him to be. But in his current situation it felt a familiar warm blanket he could bury into. 

The voice belonged to Michael. Which meant he hadn’t left, and that Jeremy hadn’t been simply having the freakiest dream ever. The adrenaline had left his body, so he was able to approach this more…rationally. He decided to make a list of the things he knew. 

Lists were nice. They were organized and had everything put together. Making them helped him feel like he was stealing a little bit of control and organization for his own life, and God did he need some of that right now.

So, list of things he knew about his current situation:

1\. There was a lot of stuff in his room. 

This one troubled him mostly because he had no idea where it came from. Also, it made his room a mess and that only added to his anxiety.

2\. Apparently the stuff was presents he had received over the years from “friends”.

3\. _He had friends?_

That couldn’t be possibly true or factual. He mentally crossed it out and rewrote it.

3\. _~~He had friends?~~_ Michael claimed he had friends.

Better. 

4\. Michael considers him a friend. Or claims to. 

Jeremy could not wrap his head around that for the life of him. But he seemed pretty sincere, and the one thing everyone knew about Michael is that he hated liars. Plenty of video evidence existed of what he did to those he caught in the act. So he decided to leave that one for now.

5\. His dad had pants. And took a shower. And was less of an asshole???

6\. His dad knew how to help with a panic attack.

7\. The marks of his normal support system for his attacks had disappeared. 

All of his scars had vanished. Not a trace of them existed. And Jeremy was stuck between feeling relieved and like a hole had opened in his stomach. He knew they were not something he should be proud of or attached to; that they were further proof of what was wrong with him. But they made him feel real… and right now he felt very far from reality. 

8\. He had a tattoo.

…a TATOO. Why the ever loving fuck would he have a tattoo?? And there was no way that was simply a prank, scratching at it did absolutely nothing. 

9\. Michael had stopped talking.

Jeremy realized this with a start, making his eyelids twitch and bringing him out of the cloud of his thoughts. In fact, Michael had not only stopped talking, but had gotten extremely close. Suddenly Jeremy felt a hand card through his hair and he stiffened like a board, eyes flying open. Michael recoiled like he was burned.

“Gah! Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he babbled, waving his hands around awkwardly. He took a deep breath, seemingly to compose himself, before looking at Jeremy with the most tender eyes he had ever seen. Well, aimed at him anyway. “How are you feeling?” Michael asked as Jeremy slowly sat up, eyeing him in confusion.

“Um… b-better? I think?”

“That’s good. Your dad and I were seriously worried. He wanted to stick around, but he had to get to work or he would be late.”

“…He works?” Jeremy asked, stupefied.

And just like that he could see a little something die in Michael’s eyes. It made Jeremy feel… guilty?

“…Ah, yeah. He does.”

And an awkward silence fell. Surprisingly, it was Jeremy who broke it first.

“Um, why… if you don’t mind me asking of course, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Actually, you probably don’t, I’m sorry, just ignore me. Never mind,” Jeremy stuttered.  
Michael’s face softened.

“No, it’s fine. What do you want to ask?” He asked kindly.

“Um… why aren’t you at school? Or, why are you here at all?”

Michael stared at him like he had grown a second head and started speaking in dolphin. But just as Jeremy was debating the plausibility of surviving a leap out of his window, Michael’s face crumpled into a smile so sad that Jeremy regretted even opening his mouth. 

“…Because you’re my best friend, and I care about you. What other reason could I possibly need?”

Jeremy stopped breathing. No… no one had _ever_ said anything like him to before. It had always been clear that he was simply a nuisance, a waste of space. The kids at school wanted nothing to do with him… his father wanted nothing to do with him… his own mother wanted so little to do with him that she _left_ …

_He_ wanted nothing to do with himself.

He and Michael continued to stare at each other until suddenly Michael’s eyes grew wide in shock. 

“H-hey, are you okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Michael stammered, once more looking like he wanted to rush in but was holding himself back. Surprised, Jeremy lifted a hand to his face and sure enough his cheeks were damp. He watched the glisten on his fingertips for a moment, and then the dam broke and tears started streaming down his face. He curled into himself as sobs wracked his body. 

He wasn’t sure whether he was crying of relief, or stress, or if this was simply a release of everything he had bottled up over time. All he knew was when warm arms finally wrapped around him, he couldn’t help but lean in and cry even harder.  
  


* * *

-Alternate Universe-

  
The car ride back was easily the most awkward ten minutes Jeremy had had in _months_. 

Michael said nothing, staring straight ahead and refusing to look at Jeremy, only occasionally grunting in response to directions. Eventually they pulled up to Jeremy’s house, and Jeremy hesitated as he unbuckled his seatbelt, staring at the house warily. He really wasn’t sure how he felt about facing his “father” right now. Michael’s annoyed voice spooked him out of his worry. 

“…Are you getting out or what? Weren’t you the one so keen to get home?”

“…Right,” Jeremy nervously chuckled. Taking a deep breath he opened the car door and stepped out. Maybe he would be lucky and his dad would be asleep or distracted enough for him to sneak to his room. He turned and flashed Michael a small nervous smile, closing the door. “Thanks for the ride.”

“You’re not welcome. Try to threaten me again and see what happens,” Michael growled as he threw the car back in gear and sped off, not a single look back. Jeremy sighed and turned back to the front door and steeled himself. 

He slowly moved toward the door and tried to unlock the door as silently as possible. He barely made a creak as he opened the door and slipped in, shutting it quietly behind him. The television was on, noise droning into the hallway. Jeremy held still, listening for any noise that indicated the state of his father. He sighed in relief when he heard the telltale sounds of quiet snores.

He made his way silently upstairs, avoiding the creaky stair third from the top. God, he couldn’t believe what he was doing. Avoiding his own father! On the other hand, there had been far too many unbelievable things already today. Nothing made any sense.

He got to his room and closed the door, sitting down on the end of his bed. Looking around he felt his stomach clench at how… empty it all felt. The walls were bare, as was the floor. Even dust seemed to have deserted the room. Jeremy shook his head. He needed to focus. 

So, he knows for a fact that he went to sleep in his normal room, right after getting off the phone with Michael and having his dad check in on him. And then he woke up in what felt like a stranger’s room with everyone he knew and loved acting like the grimdark remake nobody asked for. Every inch of his inner nerd was screaming _ALTERNATE UNIVERSE_ … but that wasn’t possible. 

…And so were microcomputers in people’s brains aiming to take over the world.

Jeremy stood up so quickly he briefly dealt with a bout of vertigo. Once his vision stopped swimming he took a harder look around the room, searching for any clues as to what happened or that he was valid in his conclusion and wasn’t simply insane. 

Sadly, the room was rather bereft of anything, much less any clues. Why the actual hell was there nothing personal besides a cheap laptop and clothing? Oh, and some books. Those were in a neat pile next to the computer. However, they provided no new information, outside of the eerie copy of Secret Garden. He checked the laptop, but it was password protected. He would have to come back to it later. 

In one last desperate bid he even looked in the small trash bin next to the desk. All that was in there was an empty bottle of- 

Jeremy froze, and the bottle was in his hand in an instant. 

Of Mountain Dew. And a flavor he had never even _heard_ of. And that’s saying something with how much research he and Michael did once they were feeling less traumatized by the whole experience. 

Fucking great. Just when he had thought he was finally free of squips, they were still ruining his life. 

He put the bottle carefully on the desk before snapping a picture of it. Had to make sure that if something happened to the bottle he still had a backup. But now what? Even though he was pretty sure what the catalyst was, he had no idea where to go from here. He couldn’t simply just go drinking any Mountain Dew all willy-nilly, you had to be extremely wary and careful with squips. 

Well, if anything it probably wouldn’t be as hard to get as Red was, if it was just some random thing that… he drank? 

Jeremy frowned. 

As far as he was theorizing, he was in some alternate universe, but he clearly hadn’t just been plopped through a wormhole. His body seemed to be different- probably the body of the Jeremy of this world. But that raised the question, where was the Jeremy from this world then? The one who drank Mountain Dew and had panic attacks at parties? Was he just sleeping within this body? Would Jeremy have to fight for dominance with another Jeremy? Or was he somewhere else? Somewhere like… _HIS_ body. 

.  
.  
.  
Well shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN Dun dun! 
> 
> ...jk. Honestly with all the nerdom Jeremy ingests and how weird his actual life has been I feel he would totally go to this conclusion. If it feels like he figured it out really fast don't worry, that's on purpose. ;) (insert evil laugh)


	5. Introductions, Take 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy deals with the Squip Squad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh... Hi? I'm so sorry this is like ridiculously late. I got swamped with Quarter Finals, and then ended up continuing to put things off. I'm really sorry about that! I'll try to get back in the swing of things. So for now, enjoy this very late update!

-Alternate Universe-

It had been three days. _Three_. And Jeremy was no closer to figuring out how to get home than he had been. Sleeping hadn’t magically transferred him back to his universe, and he had scrounged up no more clues from the house or bedroom. In fact, outside of the small amount of things in his room, it was like the Jeremy of this world didn’t even _live_ here.

The only place he hadn’t checked yet was the computer. All the passwords he had tried had done squat. Either this world’s Jeremy was paranoid or he had very different interests to himself. Quite possibly both. 

Jeremy groaned and rolled over on his bed. He had felt better after a few days of some actual sleep and food, though he still had a nasty bruise on the side of his face. 

School was… interesting. Schedule wise, his classes were identical, so that made it easier on him. It was the rest of it that threw him for a loop. All of the squip squad were now… not. Not squipped, not the same personalities, and certainly not his friends. Well, no. They could still be squipped. That could actually explain why the hell they were all so… mean. 

Turns out Jake was _still_ the nice one. Everyone else was just that much more of a shitty person. Rich was back to his cocky bully shtick, Chloe from what he had seen from a distance was _actually_ the Alpha Bitch™, and Michael… 

Michael. 

Where did he even start with Michael? 

In some ways he was the polar opposite of his fluffy boyfriend. This Michael was confrontational and had a hair-trigger temper to boot. He took shit from nobody. His whole aura was just harsh. 

And yet, beneath that rough exterior he still saw signs of the goofy nerd he had known all his life. He was remarkably easy to fluster, and still had his deep love for music and videogames. The few times Jeremy had managed to get him to actually talk to him about stuff he could see the way his eyes lit up behind his glasses. 

Somehow, that only made it all the worse. It just reminded him of _his_ Michael. It made him want to see him. To hold him and cry into his arms; have all the stress bleed out of him and into the comforting warmth that was his boyfriend. 

He missed him.  
  


* * *

-Original Universe-

  
Jeremy was nervous as hell. Today was his first day back at school in three days and he had no idea what awaited him. He also still had no idea what had happened to him. 

It felt like he was in some bizzaro backwards world. Except, if science fiction books were to be believed, weren’t alternate universes supposed to be _worse_ than the one you came from? This one was _leagues_ better than what he was used to. And yet, he still felt… wrong. 

Everything about this world he had seen so far (even if it had only been Michael, his house, and his dad) was so friendly and warm feeling. And he wasn’t. It was as if someone had stuck Batman into the world of My Little Ponies, only he wasn’t that cool. He just felt out of place. And he couldn’t help but wonder... what if _he_ was from the crappy alternate universe? Was it even real? Was _he_ even a real person? 

His spiraling thoughts were stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up with a start, meeting the gentle eyes of Michael. 

“You ready to go?” Michael asked.

No. No he was not. But he couldn’t sit in his room forever… or make Michael keep pretending to have the flu. If he could deal with his own high school, then he could deal with this, right?  
  


* * *

-Alternate Universe-

  
If Jeremy had to pick one thing he did like about this world’s Michael, it would be the fact that he actually made a pretty good repellant. It was strange to see Michael be one of the top dogs on campus, but in this situation it at least worked to his advantage. Now he just had to figure out how to get home before Michael’s mandated protection ran out.

But currently, he found himself bizarrely sitting across from a clearly agitated Michael at his normally empty lunch table. Jeremy stared with a blend of confusion and caution as he watched Michael angrily chew on his sandwich. 

“Umm… While I certainly don’t mind the company, is there a particular reason you sat here today?” Jeremy tentatively broached. He received a glare in response, but Michael did swallow his mouthful and offer an angry retort.

“Fucking Valenti is making me sit with you at lunch. Apparently one of the lunch cronies told him that you sit alone.”

“Oh. Well, um… I’m sorry?”

“Just hurry the hell up so I can leave.”

Jeremy gave him a flat look, but proceeded to take another bite of his sandwich. He debated making a show of eating as slow as possible, but decided this Michael probably wouldn’t take it that well. He felt a pang of sadness at the thought of joking around with Michael at lunch. Even before they became part of the squad the two had been each other’s companion, for good or bad. 

Apparently he had let some of his inner thoughts slip onto his face, because Michael was looking at him uncomfortably. It took Jeremy a second, but then he realized Michael was actually mildly _concerned_. 

Michael realized Jeremy was looking at him, and his eyes darted around before landing on the remains of Jeremy’s lunch. Jeremy could see the wheels turn as he tried to come up with a valid excuse. It was adorable. It took all of his acting skills to keep his face straight as Michael finally met his eyes with a glare. 

“What are you looking at?” Michael growled. 

“I could ask the same of you,” Jeremy replied. Michael’s ears went red and he huffed.

“I was just wondering how you could eat that crap.”

Jeremy looked down at the lunch he had packed. As it turned out, his ‘dad’ left him to fend for himself and do basically everything in the house. This included grocery shopping, which had not crossed his mind until this morning when he went to scrounge something together. As such his lunch consisted of a questionably old tuna-mayo sandwich and a random assortment of crackers from the back of the cupboard. 

“Well excuse me, I haven’t gone shopping recently and this was the best I could come up with. You’re not the one eating it, so I don’t see why you care.”

Michael looked offended for a second, before he paused and leveled a confused look at Jeremy.

“What do you mean you haven’t gone shopping? You don’t live alone.”

“So?”

“So like, why can’t someone else do the shopping?” Michael questioned, as though it was obvious. Jeremy’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile. 

“That would require someone else caring.”

Michael gave him a searching look, and Jeremy could swear he almost saw confused concern flash across his face. The rest of lunch passed in silence.  
  


* * *

-Original Universe-

  
Jeremy took it back. He could not deal with this. He couldn’t deal with this _at all_. 

The first part of the day actually hadn’t been too bad. He went to his classes like normal, though outside of the first one Michael wasn’t in his classes. However, he managed to stutter his way through and remain relatively innocuous. No, the real struggle came at lunch time.

Michael had been waiting for him outside of his class, which Jeremy appreciated. He kept up a stream of babble, which Jeremy also appreciated because it meant he wouldn’t have to talk. However, as they drew close to the cafeteria, Jeremy could see Michael get a bit nervous. And just as they reached the doors, Michael stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, uh, I just want to tell you that there is nothing to worry about, I guarantee everyone is really nice, they can just be a bit… _much_. 

“What do you mean by ‘much’?”

“Just… you’ll see.”

They walked through the doors and immediately Jeremy was assaulted by shouts of his name and someone glomping onto him very hard. He let out a yelp and the person was dragged off him. 

“RICH! I told you, give him space!” Michael shouted. Jeremy looked over, and sure enough the person who had grabbed him like an octopus (and was currently being held back by his collar by a tall, brightly smiling jock) was none other than _Rich Goranski_. There were several other people who were now approaching as well, all female. _The popular kids_.

Jeremy let out another high pitched yelp and hid behind Michael.

“See, you scared him!” Michael chastised. Rich pouted.

“Sorry, man, I was just excited to see him! And who doesn’t like hugs?”

“A lot of people! Especially from people they don’t know!”

“He knows me, even if he can’t remember it!” Rich swiftly directed his attention to Jeremy, who flinched. “Right Jeremy?” Jeremy just shivered like a scared Chihuahua. 

“I told you Rich, he doesn’t-” Michael started, but was cut off by a shaky voice behind him.

“Y-you’re Rich G-Goranski.”

Everyone stared at Jeremy, who coward further behind Michael. Rich beamed. 

“See!! I told you he knew who I was!”

“How about me? Remember who I am?” Rich’s tall captor asked. Jeremy looked at him, and swallowed thickly. 

“Ja-Jake Dillinger.”

“Oooh, how about us?” a pretty blonde asked, gesturing at herself and the scary brunette next to her. 

“Brooke Lohst and C-c-Chloe V-Valentine.”

“Wow, Chloe, what’d you do to him?” Rich shot at her.

“Nothing I know of-” she started replying before being cut off by the other brunette in the group. 

“I’m curious if you remember my name as well.”

“Jen-na Roland.”

“Nice, 5/5. I wonder if you can get 6/6..?”

“Please, if he can remember us, I guarantee he can remember her,” Chloe snorted. Rich laughed. As Jeremy looked around the last girl stepped forward with a bounce and a smile as warm as sun. He stared, and she returned the look expectantly. Jeremy licked his lips. 

“…I’m sorry… w-who are you?”

The group fell silent and stared at him in shock.

“Bro…” Michael started finally. “It’s _Christine._ Christine _Canigula_.”

“I’m sorry… I-I’ve nev-ver heard of a Christine Canigula.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time on Distortion: Will Jeremy find more clues? Will Christine have lines? Will I actually update at a decent speed? Stay tuned to find out!


	6. A Search For Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy and Michael go to great lengths to gain information. Their success is debatable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how at the very beginning I said this had no set update schedule because Life? Well guess what, Life happened. I'm sorry for the serious wait, I'm going to stop saying anything about when I hope to get chapters out. If you are interested in why this took so long, keep reading this author's note. If not, you can just skip ahead. Enjoy the chapter!
> 
> Warnings:  
> -None :)
> 
> So for those curious, I'll be blunt. I had literally no time to write. As I've sort of mentioned in the past, I'm currently living and studying in Japan. Which in and of itself is very time consuming. However on top of this I am also a member of a dance club. And I'm not sure what clubs are like elsewhere in the world, but American clubs are NOTHING like Japanese clubs. Japanese clubs are a _commitment_. We are currently preparing for a competition, and I have roughly 27 hours of rehearsal a week. A WEEK. And I love it. I absolutely do. But between that, school work, and my two part time jobs I'm lucky if I manage 5 hours of sleep a night, much less have time to write. I only had time today because we had a typhoon and practice was canceled. After next week the competition and my finals will be over though, so my schedule should hopefully open up a bit. I don't need or want any sympathy, I chose what I do with my life and I don't regret it. I just wanted to be upfront about why chapters might not come out very fast. To those of you who bothered to read my little rant, thank you for bothering. You deserve a cookie. :)

-Original Universe-

Jeremy fidgeted on the bench next to Michael, doing his best to remain invisible. Normally, this worked fabulously. However, normally he wasn’t the focus of an entire group people. Especially people he actively avoided to the best of his abilities. 

After the awkward moment where the pretty black haired girl wilted slightly at his lack of recognition, she had immediately bounced back and all but dragged him to a table, the rest following behind like this was normal behavior. Now they were all staring at him, clearly expecting something. He just wished he knew what.

Finally, Michael broke the quiet. 

“Will you all knock it off? He’s not a trained monkey at a zoo, you’re just freaking him out.”

“Sorry, it’s just weird,” Rich replied. Jeremy tensed.

Of course, no matter what Michael said, there was no way he would be accepted that eas-

“Like, did he get into some kinda accident? Or ooh, I know! He was abducted by aliens! And they performed experiments that messed with his memories!”

What?

“No you moron, he wasn’t abducted by aliens. They aren’t real,” Chloe shot back.

“Well theoretically speaking with the size of the universe there is a very good chance life does exist _somewhere_ besides Earth,” Jenna replied matter-of-factly. 

“See! Totally could have been abducted by aliens!” Rich exclaimed.

“Well I never said that. It’s highly unlikely for aliens to come to earth.”

“But what about crop circles and stuff? I totally saw this one TV documentary…”

Jeremy sat in stunned silence. Michael noticed and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

“See? I told you. They’re nice, just a bit… much.” Jeremy looked over and was met with a warm smile inches from his face. He felt a strange lurch in his stomach and heat creeped onto his face.

“It is too possible! Hey Jeremy, back me up here! You totally met aliens right?” Rich shouted, bringing Jeremy’s focus back. 

“Uh, me?”

“Of course you! Is there another Jeremy?”

“Well uh, I don’t remember meeting any…?”

“HAH! Take that Rich!” Chloe crowed.

Jeremy continued watching with amazement as the debate continued. They had accepted him. Just like that. Maybe… just maybe… school wouldn’t be so bad. But in the back of his head he couldn’t shake the feeling of not belonging, like this was wrong. He thought back to Rich’s joking question.

‘ _Is there another Jeremy?_ ’

And the thing was… there just might be.  
  


* * *

-Alternate Universe-

  
Jeremy stood and looked up at the entrance to the quaint brick building in front of him. In his hands he held a small stack of books, the insides labeled _Property of Middle Borough Library_. This was his last clue. Based on the books being one of the only pieces of personality in his room and the fact that the library was one of his only contacts Jeremy could only assume that the Library was someplace important to the other Jeremy. Maybe he could find something useful.

He walked forward and pushed the door open, instantly being greeted by the relief of air conditioning and a peaceful atmosphere. Jeremy had never been super into books, but he could definitely see the appeal of someplace like this. 

“Jeremy!” A warm voice called out. “I was wondering where you had been, I haven’t seen you in days!” 

Jeremy turned and was greeted by a slightly short, plump woman with mousey brown hair in a bun and a smiling face as warm as her voice. He felt the tension drain at the sight of her. After so much negativity surrounding him for days, the kindness radiating off this woman was a breath of fresh air.

Her smile faded as she got a good look at him though and Jeremy remembered as her hand flew to her mouth in a startled gasp that he still had some impressive bruising on the side of his face. 

“Oh my word, what happened?!” She exclaimed, immediately rushing forward and hovering her hand over the injury. Jeremy felt affection for this woman he didn’t even know swell in his chest. Obviously she knew the other Jeremy well and cared for him. He felt a small smile at the corners of his mouth.

“Oh, uh… someone at my school decided he had an issue with my face.”

“That’s horrible! I certainly hope he didn’t get away with it.”

“Not exactly…? Let’s just say I’m not too sure who the punishment was meant for.”

“What do you mean?” 

“He’s been assigned to be my ‘buddy’,” Jeremy explained, air-quoting with one hand. The librarian scrunched her face. 

“How’s that supposed to work?”

“He sits with me at lunch and makes sure people don’t bug me. I do have to say he’s effective, even if he clearly is unhappy about it.”

“Well, I suppose that’s good then. Has he tried to do anything else since?”

“Nothing outside of some biting remarks and general disagreeableness.”

“Well hopefully he learns some manners. If you ever need to give him what for make sure to let me know! I’ll give him a talking to that will put any catholic grandmother to shame!” She exclaimed, hand over her heart. Jeremy let out a genuine laugh for the first time in what felt like ages. 

“Will do.”

“So is that why you haven’t come the last few days? I was worried when you didn’t show up after school on Friday or over the weekend.”

Wow, the other Jeremy came _that_ often?

“Yeah, the school nurse sent me home early with the explicit instructions to rest.”

“Well I’m glad you listened to her. Did your father let you rest properly over the weekend?”

Jeremy blinked in surprise. Geez, how close _were_ they? Was she some sort of confidant for the other Jeremy? That was both good and bad. Good, because she would definitely know a lot about the other Jeremy. Bad, because she would be a lot harder to keep from realizing something was off. He would have to play this very carefully. 

“He just ignored me to be honest,” Jeremy shrugged. She frowned, but said seemingly decided not to comment. 

“So how are you feeling now?” She asked instead.

“Alright. It’s still a bit sore if I poke it too hard, but other than that it’s not as bad as it looks.”

“Well I’m glad to hear it,” she smiled. She put her hands together in a quiet clap. “So, what can I do for you today? I assume you are in desperate need of some new books.” She giggled, as though laughing at an inside joke. Jeremy thought fast. 

“Well, what would you recommend? Anything you think I would like?”

“Ooh, it’s been a while since you’ve asked for a recommendation! Let me see if we’ve got anything new.” 

She bustled off and Jeremy slowly trailed after her, examining the area more closely. The library wasn’t very large, consisting of a checkout counter, a few tables and couches, and a single computer in a corner. Though in what little space there was books were crammed everywhere. Bookcases took up every available space, creating a cozy atmosphere. As Jeremy approached the desk he read the small little plaque that sat on the desk. 

_Ms. Loralee Brown_

It suited her.

“Alright, I have a few options for you,” Loralee said, continuing as though she had never left. “We got some new Agatha Christie books in, I know you enjoyed ‘The Hollow’. Also, a personal favorite of mine was returned that I think you would like.” She placed three books on the desk: ‘The A.B.C. Murders’ and’ Dead Man’s Folly’, the Agatha Christie novels, and another book that looked a bit worn for wear called ‘The Sound and the Fury’. 

…Wow this Jeremy was clearly smarter than him. He vaguely recalled looking at ‘The Sound and the Fury’ for class and quickly noping out of that. It was confusing as hell. He ended up choosing to read ‘Animal Farm’ instead… along with 2/3 of the class. Regardless…

“Oh, I’ve heard of that one, it sounded interesting. Thank you Ms. Brown,” he said with a smile. Rather than returning it as he expected, her face turned shocked, and then scrutinizing, before falling back into a chipper smile. There was something unsettling about it though. 

Jeremy felt his smile go rigid as confused fear filled him. Did he say something wrong? The air in the library no longer felt so relaxing.

“It’s no problem! You said you enjoyed ‘Catch 22’ when you returned it last week, so I thought you might enjoy this one as well.”

“That one was definitely good, does this one have similar themes?”

“Oh yes, especially the theme that things aren’t as they seem.”

The room turned cold, and it wasn’t the air-conditioning. Jeremy stared wide eyed at the small woman in front of him whose unmoving smile had been joined by a sharp gaze that seemed to see into his very soul. 

“You have never checked out ‘Catch 22’ from this library, nor have you called me ‘Ms. Brown’ since the first time you walked through that door 4 years ago. I don’t suppose you would like to offer an explanation?”

Jeremy continued to gape at her, mouth slack. He ran through his options. What could he possibly do to get out of this situation? He decided to go with the tactic that had served him well for years:

_Jeremy used Run Away._ . . . _Jeremy escaped successfully!_

Jeremy sprinted out the door of the library, books still in hand and the shouts of Ms. Loralee behind him.  
  


* * *

  
Michael sat in his car, leaning on the steering wheel and glaring in concentration out the front window at the parking lot of the 7/11. He couldn’t stop thinking about that asshole Jeremy. What was his deal? There more words that came out of his mouth the more Michael was confused.

Where did he even come from? According to Jake he had been going to school with them since elementary school, yet Michael couldn’t say he had ever seen him before last Friday. Despite this, the dude claimed they were best friends. Hell, he knew stuff about Michael that he hadn’t even told _Jake_. He just didn’t get him.

And then there was this sinking nebulous feeling Michael had sometimes after talking to Jeremy. He was starting to get the impression that Jeremy had a lot more to him than met the eye, and it wasn’t in a good way. He knew the world had a lot of shitty people and things in it, he was no stranger to them himself. Yet there was a darkness on occasion to Jeremy’s eyes that made Michael shudder a little. No one, especially someone who was just a teenager, should have a look like that. It scared him.

And Michael Mell didn’t get scared. 

Jeremy was a mystery, but Michael was determined to figure him out. But how should he do that? For once punching his problem wouldn’t help. In fact, it would probably only make things worse. It’s what got him into this in the first place. He would have to take a different approach. 

The main thing he needed was information. And there was only one person to go to for such a reason. Michael suppressed a shudder. He disliked dealing with her, it always left him feeling like he lost more than he gained. But in this case he had no other option. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through the contacts, stopping at the one he wanted. He put the phone to his ear and listened as the line rang. A female voice picked up.

“Hello?

“Hey, it’s Michael. I… need a favor.”

“Oh? Are you willing to pay the fee?”

“…Yes.”

“Then what do you need?”

“I need anything and everything you can tell me about Jeremy Heere.”

“That’s gonna cost you pretty heavily.”

“How much?”

“20 minute interview, no lying or avoiding a question allowed.”

“You drive a hard bargain Jenna Roland.”

“It’s why I’m the best Michael Mell.”

“Fine… you have yourself a deal.”

He could almost hear the evil smile on the other side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any and all books I mention in this story are stories I would recommend. Especially the Agatha Christie, I love her. (Also The Sound and the Fury is a book that needs to be read twice to fully appreciate.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading, any comments, concerns, and critiques are welcome! ^.^ I will see you lovelies in the next chapter!


End file.
